At the start of the millennium the Brisbane Lions had a grand final winning streak that has not been matched in the AFL.
On-field success has been fleeting over the past decade but if the last two years have taught nothing else, it is that a team can win off the field.
Brisbane are backing up a decade later as the repeat off-season premiers.
It did not look this way some 15 months ago. The club faced an exodus of young talent as they reeled from poor football related appointments and decisions. The club was pushed by a young group and their managers and they responded by grabbing every asset they could.
Those assets would lead to Brisbane assembling what could go down in AFL folklore as the greatest ever draft class by an individual club. The 2013 Brisbane draft class was a win with each of its top six picks.
Six picks inside the top 40 and six picks that have unearthed AFL-calibre players. A lengthy rebuild was turned on its head. Being able to nail that one draft meant the club had gone from hunted to hunter.
That one draft win in 2013 was part of the reason that Brisbane were able to capitalise 12 months later and have a win at the 2014 trade table by adding star midfielders Allen Christensen and Dayne Beams. Over the space of 12 months Brisbane have been able to build the most dynamic, attacking and deep midfield in the league.
With a 2013 draft win and a 2014 trade period win, it is somewhat disappointing that Brisbane were not able to again flex their off-field prowess by nailing another draft. But with a first pick at 44 and not having a live pick until in the 60s, this draft in comparison to the 12 months previous did not have the same stakes on the line.
This was more about the future and ongoing list management, areas that the club has struggled with since its premiership era.
What Brisbane were able to do with their 2014 draft, though, was add local and Tasmanian talent in an effort to build young depth in their depleted areas, namely down back. The move to Tasmanian talent by the two Queensland-based clubs has been an intriguing side plot of the past few draft periods, and it appears that Brisbane are trying to capitalise on the positivity that comes from Tasmania for the Sunshine State.
Indeed, Tasmanian duo Josh Watts and Josh McGuinness appear to answer questions about where Brisbane’s next defenders are coming from. Watts is a tall defender while McGuinness is a medium defender. Both need to add size to their frames for AFL football, but even if one of these two project players can work then Brisbane has added some of that much needed defensive depth.
Apsley duo Liam Dawson and Harris Andrews joined Brisbane through their academy system and again add depth to the defence and ruck of the Brisbane team. Dawson of all picks for Brisbane could be the one that finds his way to the team first, with both an ability to lock down on a defensive opponent or be a dangerous forward option that thrives with defensive pressure.
Andrews is somewhat of a long-term prospect, but given Brisbane’s struggles in the ruck last year at least it gives them an option in a worst case scenario.
Late round picks Jaden McGrath and Josh Clayton finished the draft day for Brisbane. Clayton, as son of renowned list manager Scott, will be an interesting prospect while McGrath seems to be another addition to the mosquito fleet of young midfield forwards that Brisbane have stockpiled.
As nice as it was for Brisbane fans to see questions about their defence answered with project players in the 2014 draft, this was an off-season that Brisbane had already won. For two years in a row, Brisbane have been winners.
One can only feel though that the hype going into the 2015 off-season won’t be what it was when Brisbane headed towards a hat-trick in 2003. Still, Brisbane and winning may be coming back in vogue.
Cameron Palmer
Roar Guru
Hi Tom, Always appreciate you taking the time to reply and critique. These draft series have all been about working a narrative through the piece. This Brisbane piece was a narrative of what does a draft look like when you have already had a resounding win in the off-season. Some of the things that I write I may not agree with, but trying to give a perspective of what a club was trying to achieve with the draft while working a drat day narrative through it. I did debate weighing in on the forward line issues, but I just felt that what Brisbane did to bolster their defence means they now have a season to see what a small, running forward line can look like. Really appreciate you taking the time to read and reply. Thanks Tom.
TomC
Roar Guru
Cameron’s a big fan of counter-intuitive arguments, and it’s always interesting to get a different perspective. I think here though he might be going a little too far. Firstly, it’s hard to justify describing Brisbane as ‘winners’ of the 2013 off-season when players of the quality of Yeo, Polec, Docherty and Longer departed. There were some complicated exchanges of picks but effectively the club drafted Gardiner, McStay, Taylor and Nick Robertson with those picks. Gardiner and Taylor have had excellent first seasons but it’s not at all clear that the club finished ahead on those exchanges. Cameron describes the six picks in the top 40 as ‘unearthing AFL-calibre players’. I hope so. But it’s a bit too early to make such claims about McStay, Robertson and Cutler, none of whom have made it to ten games yet, and are all a fair way from being complete footballers. I think we can say that Brisbane appear to have minimised a lot of the damage from the 2013 off-season, but they lost many years of development and that wasted investment can’t be recovered no matter how good the draft crop turns out to be. It is true though that the early success of that group would’ve made it easier to aggressively trade for Beams and Christensen, and to commit a list spot to the problem child Mitch Robinson. I think they made some sensible decisions and I agree that the midfield right now looks very powerful, balanced and full of attacking potential, as Cameron says. It’s also remarkably young - Rockliff, Redden, Rich, Hanley, Beams surely all will remain amongst the better midfielders in the league for at least the next five or six years. Cameron is also right to identify the preference of Queensland clubs to draft Tasmanians – it’s certainly one way to offset the go-home factor. The Lions now have five Tasmanians on the list, with Robinson, Watts and McGuiness joining Harwood and Green. From memory, other recent Tassie Lions include Justin Sherman, Tom Collier and Aaron Cornelius. Cameron discusses the defenders amongst the new draftees as meeting a critical need. That seems to have been a focus for Leppitsch as head coach in his first twelve months, and he appears to favour playing as many as four tall defenders, providing most or all of them have the athleticism to go with smaller opponents. For that reason it wouldn’t surprise me if Josh Watts got a few games next season even before he adds some muscle. The elephant in the room is Brisbane’s failure to commit to rebuilding their forwardline, which I recall Cameron mentioned in another article. Harris Andrews may have been drafted as a key forward (he’s played forward, back and in the ruck in his juniors; not sure he’s big enough to ruck regularly at AFL level) but out of the 20 odd players added to the senior list in the past fifteen months only Jonathan Freeman and Jackson Paine could be considered genuine forwards and they’re both pretty speculative. Maybe the long-term plan involves a big play for a free agent forward. Maybe Leppitsch sincerely believes that the young forwards currently on the list are the best prospects available. Maybe he thinks they can do without a gun forward. Whatever the solution is, the forwardline is the biggest of the problems the Lions need to solve before they can start to think about premierships again.